Settler family of eight to settle in house where Jewish couple and three of their children were stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists. 'We're not afraid,' father says, 'we want to show those who hate us that we're stronger'

Akiva Novick |Published: 25.07.12 , 14:00

A family from Itamar
is expected to move into the house where five members of the Fogel family
were butchered
by Palestinian terrorists about a year and a half ago, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday.

On March 11, 2011 Udi Fogel, 36, Ruth Fogel, 35, and three of their children - Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and three-month-old Hadas - were stabbed to death
in their sleep by two young Palestinian men who infiltrated the West Bank settlement.

The three children who survived, Tamar (14), Roi (10) and Yishai (4) are currently living with their grandparents in Jerusalem.

Shocking pictures from the scene of the massacre in Itamar were published worldwide.

"I understand why no one wanted to move into the house until now," a local settler told Yedioth. "Children here are still having nightmares about the murders."

The 20 families that have relocated to Itamar since the massacre all refused to move into the Fogel house, which overlooks the terrorists' home village of Awarta.

Undaunted

But a few months ago a family of eight from Itamar answered a "house for rent" advertisement placed by the Fogel family in the local newspaper.

"We are not afraid," said the father, who asked to remain anonymous. "On the contrary, we are glad to be able to express our faith in this way and prove to those who hate us that we are persevering and that we are stronger than they are.

"(God) runs the world, and he is watching over us," he added.

The father, his wife and their six children, who are all under the age of five, are expected to move into the house after Tisha B'Av, which will be observed on Sunday.

Itamar's rabbi, Natan Chai, announced that the construction of a yeshiva named after Udi Fogel has been completed and that a synagogue is also being built to commemorate the 20 local settlers who have been killed in terror attacks over the years.

"The nation of Israel will grow stronger," the rabbi said. "The murderers will not deter us."